First reference to any uber kill switches is from 2018 (https://www.ft.com/content/1489e9c4-f6f6-11e7-88f7-5465a6ce1...)

> Ripley operated like a “kill switch” that would lock down all the computers in an office, preventing staff from immediately providing any data to police even if they had a warrant.

I guess what's new is everything around it as well as the scope of the usage of Ripley (or the newer tool "uLocker").